The king on the Great Wall

Chapter 642 "Weeding Plan"

Good guy!

Everyone at the scene came to their senses one after another: No wonder the prime minister made it clear how difficult Hewan was at the beginning of the opening. It turned out that what he was playing was the idea of ​​"talking first": talking about what others say, so that others have nothing to say Say—as long as you rush to pull out all the arguments that the anti-war faction can argue in advance and publicly execute them, you can gag their mouths!

However, while most people are speechless, there are still many sober-minded people here who are faintly aware that under the seemingly seamless and self-consistent appearance of the "Weeding Plan", there are actually loopholes.That is: it is entirely based on an idealized premise-the Queen's Army must win every battle.

How is this possible?Even when Aegon conquered the Seven Kingdoms, he didn't win every battle.

Instinctively let everyone intuit that this is difficult to do, but Iger's brilliant record of victory is there, and it is impossible to refuse.Those present who could think of this level are either his defeated generals who are not qualified to question his abilities, or they are staunch main fighters who will not say anything to make trouble if they think about it...Unexpectedly, everyone acquiesced this situation.

"Good plan, Your Excellency Prime Minister." Princess Arianne didn't think too much about it. She was shaken by the unrelenting momentum and ruthless ferocity shown in this plan, and she clenched her legs and dawdled for a while. It took a lot of willpower to suppress the burning desire in her heart that made her feel burning, "However, at this marching speed, even if everything goes well, we may only be able to cross the Bitter Bridge and advance to the new barrel in a month." The area around the city and the fruit wine hall can't even touch the edge of the High Court. Calculating this way, it will take more than two months to win the entire river bend. However, the winter has passed, and fighting for another three months will inevitably delay the river bend, the river area and even the whole river. The spring plantings in the Stormlands and Dorne will further affect the first crop of the Seven Kingdoms in summer... If there is a famine, it will be a big trouble. How do you plan to solve this trouble?"

Dorne has always been at odds with Hewan, and if this battle can be fought, she is willing to ask Arianne to donate her private money.From a standpoint, she didn't want to make it difficult for Iger, but for some reason, she had a premonition or imagination and expectation that "nothing can stop the man in front of her", eager to be proved that this is not herself This is why he deliberately asked the question, hoping to see if this guy had a plan to settle the real troubles that God had placed in front of him.

Facing dozens of pairs of curious eyes, Iger smiled.

If the battle against Hewan really drags on to the third month, let alone affect the spring planting, the gunpowder of the donated land army will not be enough in the first place...

But how to define enough?Of course, you don't have to blast the gates of every castle in the river bend to count—living people are not mindless beasts, and it is impossible to fight to the last soldier without really ignoring the overall situation.There were dozens of counties in an island country with a population of nearly [-] million. Didn't they surrender after only two shots of mushrooms?

To win a war, it is not necessary to occupy all of the enemy's land and destroy all of the enemy's army...just break their will.

To achieve this, the existing gunpowder and one month's time are enough.

"This is indeed a trouble." Iger did not hesitate for half a second, "But Princess Arianne, don't forget, delaying the spring planting, we are anxious, and the enemy is even more anxious--millions of people affected by the war Farmers, although they are subjects of the Queen in the final analysis, are their property first and foremost in the eyes of the Nobles of the River Bend. On the point of 'don't want to fight for a long time', the enemy and us are equal...Of course, this does not mean that We intend to use hunger as a weapon. In order to prevent the war from being dragged into the point where it will affect the resumption of production in the seven countries and cause mutual losses, the 'Weeding Plan' has an auxiliary line, or a dark line arrangement, in addition to the main line plan."

"Bolton and Frey's 4000 men guarded Harrenhal. Her Majesty the Queen led more than [-] troops to occupy King's Landing and the Kingdom. I received a total of more than [-] troops from the Land Army, half of the Unsullied, Dorne, and the West Frontier Army. The bend in the river, flat out towards Highgarden and the Old Town, that's the main line."

"While the main force was advancing along the Avenue of Roses into the bend of the river, Lords Robb and Edmure led [-] troops from the Northern Territory-Hejian Alliance to the south into the Stormlands. The land boundary line advances towards Nightsong City, waiting for an opportunity to cross the border and enter the river bend to approach the back of Highgarden in the Horn Hill area; at the same time, I learned that there is still a guard of about [-] people in the western region staying in Lannisport, so I also want to ask Tyrion My lord wrote a letter back to mobilize this army to go south, stationed in the area around the ancient Oak City, there is no need to attack or encircle, it is only for deterrence."

"There are many soldiers in Hewan, and marching in separate routes in the ordinary sense will only give them a chance to defeat them one by one. Therefore, it needs to be emphasized that the two groups of troops and the main force do not go hand in hand and form the horns of each other, but instead cooperate from inside to outside. The primary and secondary cooperation that echoes each other from afar—the last two troops have to do, first of all, do not go deep into the enemy’s territory, be prepared to retreat and transfer at any time, and avoid any large-scale frontal engagement—on the premise of protecting themselves, then Spread the queen's tax policy on the periphery, create riots and pressure, obstruct the military and logistical support to the heartland in the south and north of the river bend, so that the main force of our army in the enemy's territory cannot fully start production, and support with peace of mind front."

"It's just an army entering and steadily advancing. The princes of the river bay may be able to deal with it calmly, calmly dispatch troops, and exchange space for time to activate the entire war machine. However, if the three directions of east, south, and north are attacked at the same time, it will be difficult for them to attack. The enemy's command brought a great sense of oppression, disturbed its established thinking, and caused divisions within the enemy, making them lose ground. When the harassment troops on the two fronts of the north and the south moved flexibly to fight without head-on, the enemy wanted to fight back or change tactics To break the predicament, there is only one choice left: put all your eggs in one basket, come to find the main force I lead, and win the bet. In a word, the two auxiliary lines, like a shepherd dog driving sheep, will not only Force the enemy to bite the bullet and seek a decisive battle, and make them unable to condense their full strength even in their dying struggles!"

"It does take more than a month to march from King's Landing to Highgarden, but as long as our parties cooperate properly, I am sure that the war will be over before our army reaches the capital of the River Bend."

……

Both the queen and the prime minister have already finalized their strategies. How can the nobles who have just joined the group and have not made great achievements have any room for objection and doubt?

The arrangement for the operation of the River Bend has been finalized, but the part that Iger did not say is: the arrangement of the two harassment troops is not all out of tactical considerations.Lannisport's Western Territory Army is far away and difficult to adjust. It is out of helplessness to let them attack from the western front; and the reason why the Northern Territory-River Army led by Robb and Edmure was sent to the south is actually It's more about "spending them off".

Due to the existence of the Great King's Land Plan, after I lead the main force into the river bend, I am afraid that I will have to do a lot of operations that violate the unspoken rules of war between nobles and make the lords of the northern border and the river feel uncomfortable, so as not to quarrel again at that time , Unhappiness, or even conflict, it is better to leave early, so that they can complete some chores that must be done by someone, and they can also be quiet.

The so-called combat meeting is actually the end of the high-level meeting for assigning tasks. Everyone went back to their homes full of thoughts. Iger declined Princess Arianne's re-invitation to "discuss in further detail" and accompanied Tyrion to the temporary office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer .After settling the board and lodging of the old friend and talking about the future prospects of the Seven Kingdoms at the opportunity of having dinner together, he was satisfied with the wine and food, and returned to the interim prime minister's mansion under the escort of the guards.

Just after entering the gate, he learned from Myrcella that Nina was waiting for him in the study. After entering the room, he saw her expression and knew it was not a good thing. He took off his coat and threw it on the hanger, and sat down in the chair calmly. .

"What's the matter, looks like the sky is about to fall?"

The female head of the night watchman industry stood in the middle of the house, with an uncharacteristically embarrassed face: "In the afternoon, a letter was delivered to the industrial park, and it was stated on the cover that it was to be handed over to you for personal approval... This procedure is a bit abnormal, so I will follow what you said earlier. According to the instructions, let’s take a look at it first.”

"Well." Iger did say that, but now that he is the queen's hand, the letter should be sent to the prime minister's mansion, why is it still sent to the industrial park?No wonder Nina wanted to say that this was abnormal, "What did you write?"

He thought he acted frankly, unless the secret of poisoning the queen's two imperial courts was revealed, otherwise there was really nothing to fear being known.

"The letter said that the people of Hewan already knew the mystery of the formula of gunpowder. If your lord insists on leading an army to attack, he will arm the whole army and make it known to the world."

-

Chapter 643 Leaks

That's it? !

Armed to the whole army?The night watchmen haven't been able to do it yet, so what kind of onion is Hewan?This intimidation is too low-level.

"What about the letter?" Iger chuckled, shook his head, and stretched out his hand.

Nina hurriedly stepped forward, took out the letter with both hands and handed it over, then returned to the original position, and waited silently with her hands down.

(Are you so scary?)

The girl's behavior was a bit strange, but Iger didn't think much about it. Instead, he took the original and sat on the back of the chair, slowly unfolding the letter, and started reading quietly.

After a while, he scanned all the contents of the letter, and after a long sigh, he slowly put it on the table.

***

Rough and savage expansion is not without cost. After several years of rapid development, the Night Watchman Industrial Park has grown into a huge and bloated behemoth-unstoppable in frontal confrontation, but it is full of flaws when observed at the detailed level.Thousands of people came from all over the Seven Kingdoms to work for it, but most of them were just for a meal, not for any noble program or belief at all.

And this also led to: the night watchman industry is a powerful, but not rigorous and pure organization.

He was able to hide the secret of black powder for so long under such conditions. In addition to having a complete set of strategic deception plans to successfully hide the existence of gunpowder under the fog of "fighting against the White Walkers", there is another trick: : "Precise division of labor, flat management" - the night watchman arsenal is separated from the subdivision organization to manage important military secrets, and the personnel in other departments perform their duties, but they do not have access to core information.

Whether it's the nitrate plant that stirs excrement by the Blackwater River, the sulfur mining site inside and outside the crater on Longshi Island, or the charcoal burning plant that is both in the industrial park and Houguan Town...the people in it are just exchanging labor for remuneration , very few know what they are doing.

These two layers of protective clothing are effective, but not indestructible. The reason is simple: the Night Watchman industry is just a group company, not a complete political system, a unified country or an independent civilization.

It has no geographical isolation like Lop Nur from the outside world; nor does it have any language, cultural, and ideological gaps; even the "loyalty" to the Night Watchman Corps is only based on the wages and prospects provided; moreover Not to mention, the composition of the three-in-one sulfur, carbon and nitrate is really nothing sophisticated or complicated. Any alchemist who knows the general direction will be able to figure it out sooner or later.

Because of his clear understanding of this, Iger never expected to be able to keep this secret for too long.

Taking a thermal weapon out to use against people is like tearing off two layers of film and unwrapping it to take it out of the box.After being exposed under the clear sky, as long as someone with a heart thinks about it, the magic of gunpowder will be exposed sooner or later... Instead of wishful thinking to keep this unkept secret, it is better to learn more about the raw material smelting technology, casting methods and artillery skills of artillery. Keep an eye on the information and data of technical content - the latter is the achievable way to maintain military technological superiority and generation gap suppression for a long time.

***

It's a pity that even though he was mentally prepared, Iger didn't expect that the gunpowder would be lost so quickly.

In his original prediction, no matter how fast it is, at least wait until the internal war in Westeros is decided, and the whole world knows that the queen has such a big killer, similar to Braavos and External forces such as Volantis began to send excellent spy organizations such as the Faceless to steal secrets... It will be possible after about a year and a half, right?

But now, how many days have passed since the bombardment of the Golden Group?

Judging from the contents of the letter, the people in Hewan had indeed learned the formula of gunpowder.It is impossible to arm the entire army, and it is indeed tricky to make it public-but after the initial brief shock, Iger was soon relieved, and even wanted to laugh.

The enemy may know that gunpowder is a mixture of sulfur, carbon and nitric acid, but they absolutely do not know the ratio.Otherwise, either the letter writer will also write the matching ratio on the letter to make a more deterrent intimidation; or he can use the time to prepare for the war to hurry up and use the advantages of manpower and material resources to quickly produce hundreds of catties of gunpowder. When the local army marched into the river bend with great arrogance, they conducted a blasting exercise along their marching route—just like how Iger frightened the Western Territory so that he did not dare to send troops out of Golden Tooth City.

Even... If it is a more courageous leader, it is entirely possible to choose to make a fortune in silence, hold back a big move to kill yourself by surprise, seek greater bargaining chips on the battlefield, and even really fight for little Aegon Throne!

However, the other party chose: without knowing the specific ratio, ignore Sanqi 21 and write an anonymous letter to scare himself!

Is there a better word to describe this move than to startle the snake?

It's hard to imagine someone as smart as "The Queen of Thorns" or a character as powerful as Randyll Tarly doing this trick.In view of the strange delivery form and unsigned characteristics of this letter, it is very likely that it is not an official decision of the Hewan decision-making level at all, but that a certain territory is close to the front line and does not want to become a "price" in the war but is scared to death The private behavior of a daring aristocrat!

The letter writer was betting, only losing the bet.

Not only did this letter not scare Iger, but it completely exposed his panic and lack of confidence in rushing to the doctor for a sudden illness.

Following this letter that should not have appeared, Iger can even roughly infer the overall state of Hewan at the moment: the presence of "pig teammates" means that there are differences of opinion within Hewan, but it also means that - the opposite side A considerable proportion of people of insight have already noticed their plan to take the descendants of Qingshou, and have made up their minds to resist!

What I will face is probably a tough battle!

His eyes flickered, and Iger, who quickly calmed down, relaxed.

He realized that analysis is analysis, and it is absolutely inappropriate to make any temporary changes in decision-making due to the appearance of this letter.The most correct approach at the moment is to act according to the original plan, while quietly making more preparations, in case the opponent succeeds in improvising and comes up with some gunpowder weapons that can be put into actual combat.Not to mention bombs and cannons, even if you can only hear loud firecrackers and firecrackers, if you appear at the right place at the right time, it is possible to change the battle situation.

While conducting her usual cold and rational analysis, Nina who was standing at the table suddenly asked cautiously, "My lord, can I have a private chat with you?"

Private talk?Is there still a chance for you and me to talk privately?When can't you blow the pillow breeze?

Iger was a little confused, but soon realized what was happening, and nodded to Myrcella, the only third person in the room, signaling her to avoid it temporarily.

The little princess obediently left and closed the door, but before Iger could say anything, Nina made an unexpected move: she knelt down in front of Iger's table with a "plop".

The threatening letter from the enemy didn't scare him, but Iger was taken aback by the behavior of his number one virtuous wife.

"What's wrong?" Iger frowned, "Stand up and speak slowly."

Nina didn't stand up, but raised her head and pleaded with tears in her eyes: "My lord, I may know who leaked the secret, but please forgive him for the sake of my brother and sister's hard work for you over the years." Life!"

Is it Neil?

Iger instantly understood the reason for Nina's abnormal behavior, and slowly lowered his face: "When and how did you find out? In detail, don't miss anything."

……

In the afternoon, when Iger was scolding Fang Qiu at the battle meeting, Nina, who was in the black wall castle and was dealing with the complicated affairs of the industrial park as usual, suddenly received this letter from her subordinates, opened it and read it He immediately realized the seriousness of the situation, put down his work and rushed to the city without saying a word.When he was about to go out, he bumped into his elder brother, so he casually told him about it.

The intention of this move is to let my brother share part of the pressure for him, and start to lead and organize the investigation-to find out from which channel this important secret was leaked.Who would have thought that after listening to his sister's words, Neil replied indifferently: "Gunpowder? Isn't it a mixture of sulfur and nitrate? I guessed it a long time ago. How many people in the industrial park don't know? Is it necessary to leak the secret?"

The speaker has no intention, but the listener has intention... Nina, who was in a hurry to leave, was struck by lightning when she heard the words.

How many people in the industrial park do not know?I don't know, of course it's not because she's stupid, but because she's so busy with so many things that she has no time or thought to figure out the gunpowder formula.Could it be that my elder brother had already guessed the key secret of gunpowder because of his job, but he didn't realize the importance of this information, so he accidentally leaked it out! ?

Recalling that Miss Margaret has always been close to her siblings, she often came to the industrial park to spend time with Neil as a business partner when she had nothing to do... A terrible guess slowly popped up in her mind, and Nina immediately With a stern voice, he asked his brother if he had informed the Tyrell family of the relevant information.

Neil naturally firmly denied it at first, but later he couldn't hold back his sister's inquisitive pursuit, so he reluctantly admitted: In the chat with Margaret, he once revealed that Iger was too concerned about saltpeter preparation and sulfur mining... "Maybe it made him She figured it out herself."

What Neil said was the truth, but how could Nina believe that the truth was so simple.She decided in her heart that it was her brother who avoided the important and wanted to shirk responsibility. She was so panicked that she almost couldn't even stand. If it is found out, my brother will definitely die, so it is better to admit it at the first time, maybe there is still a chance of life.

That's why she took the initiative to kneel down and confess this.

Is this the legendary "defense by day and night, it's hard to guard against house thieves"?

That chick, Margaery Tyrell, is really pervasive!

Is this going to start to have more pig teammates than which side... Iger finally couldn't help raising his hand to put his forehead on his forehead: the good news is that Nina didn't know about it but didn't participate or let it go; the bad news is that Neil , one of the veterans of the night watchman industry, his "brother-in-law" in a certain sense leaked military secrets—whether it was intentional or unintentional, he really didn't know what to do.

After thinking for half a minute, he couldn't straighten out his thoughts, and couldn't bear to keep Nina kneeling on the ground, so he had no choice but to sit up straight: "What about others."

"Wait next door."

"Go and call him!"

-

Chapter 644 Leaks

The suspect who leaked the secret quickly came to him tremblingly, but Iger didn't ask questions immediately, but stared at him for several seconds with his arms folded and frowning, pressing his eyes and silence until the other party had difficulty breathing and his legs began to weaken, before he broke through. confrontation.

"Stand up straight!" Iger said in a low voice first—in case the elder brother went to learn from the younger sister and knelt down and begged for mercy, "Be honest," he said in a bad tone, "What kind of benefits did the Tyrell family give you? Tell people everything without holding back?"

"My lord, I definitely didn't take advantage and betray the news!" Although his legs were shaking like sifting chaff, Neil still tried to straighten his knees, "I did receive gifts from Miss Margery, but they were all worthless. These are inexpensive courtesy items such as specialty fruits and self-brewed wine... At that time, the Night Watchman Industry and Highgarden were still business partners. But it's worth more than a dozen golden dragons, and I returned the gift. My lord, you know, Nina and I both have shares in the industry, and we are not short of money at all, no matter whether we rely on dividends or salaries. How could we be greedy for that? It’s a little cheap to sell important secrets!”

Indeed, Nier and Nina brothers and sisters have shares in the property, which is not a small amount.If lords and knights are excluded, the two of them, even if they are counted separately, will definitely rank high on the list of rich people in the Seven Kingdoms... However, there is no causal relationship between being rich and being clean. Iger has seen a lot of people before and after crossing.

"Since I didn't give you any food, could it be that Margaery Tyrell slept with you?"

"Ah?" Neil was stunned for a moment, and then shook his head like a rattle, "How could it be possible... How could someone as high as her like us like ordinary people...Miss Margery is really approachable, But I... have never even touched her hand."

"Listen, do you really want to touch it?" Iger sneered, and then his tone became more blunt, "Then I don't quite understand—if the Tyrells have given you great benefits, don't you treat them as At least outsiders can understand; and if that chick Margaret slept with you, and you missed a few words while you were talking to her, I still have to praise you for your ability... Now that you have neither, you Instead, tell me, what are you planning to talk to her about my correspondence with the industrial park and even the itinerary? You are the dean of the Industrial Research Institute, not a small employee who cares about nothing. What should be said and what should not be said? , without any awareness of confidentiality and information sensitivity, how can you sit firmly in this position!?"

"I..." Neil muttered, how dare he speak his mind—although he knew that his admiration for Margaery Tyrell was purely a toad's desire to eat swan meat, but he could enjoy it without smelling it.Even if it's just chatting with those young, beautiful and nice-talking noble ladies, it's really pleasant and can satisfy people's vanity.

"This subordinate is guilty, please sir... punish!"

"Punishment? It's easy to say! How much is the secret of gunpowder worth? What impact will the disclosure of this secret have on the subsequent war situation? How many more casualties will the Queen's army cause? What kind of punishment is appropriate? I will give it to you now." You have a chance to say it yourself?!"

Although it was an angry and aggressive question, in fact, Iger himself was not sure.

It is said that it is difficult for an upright official to decide on housework, so this is what happened to him.

This matter is difficult to determine, firstly because: Judging from the information available so far, what Neil has done has not reached the level of malicious collusion - he himself does not know the formula of gunpowder, but he has judged that there are sulfur, Nitrate two components, but two are already two-thirds of the total; when the leak happened, the marriage between Aegon and Margaery had not yet been announced, and the bombardment of the Golden Group had not yet happened, and Neil knew neither gunpowder It is the core consumables of thermal weapons, and the River Bend and the Night Watchman are still partners rather than enemies...

If the above excuses can't change the bad nature of "leaking important secrets" itself, then the second difficulty is real: there are people above Neil.

This person is not Neil's sister Nina, but Iger himself.

If the entire queen's camp is compared to a company, Daenerys is the boss and he is the general manager.When there is a moth in a certain department that affects the interests of the entire company, the boss doesn't care about the ins and outs and the twists and turns. She will only ask the person in charge to be held accountable, and now the responsible leader is herself.

If Neil’s leaking behavior is made public and punished, Nina’s heart will be chilled and the industry will be dissociated. It’s a small matter. If you don’t ask yourself, you will lose your reliability in the Queen’s eyes. In the human faction, there is a poisoning case and a major leak, so what's the use of fighting alone?

Even if the leak does not cause any serious consequences in the end, the pot of "unknown people" and "nepotism" will never be shaken off, and this will become his own black spot, lingering, and will affect all kinds of personnel affairs of this prime minister in the future. Both referrals and appointments have serious negative consequences.

This unfavorable situation will not improve in the slightest just because he has punished the perpetrator by killing his relatives righteously.

While Iger was trying to analyze the pros and cons, Neil really came up with a plan: "My lord, please transfer me to the gifted land, let me suffer in the ice and snow, sober up and calm down for a while, and reflect on my own mistake."

Distribute the Great Wall?It is indeed a feasible punishment plan, but the arsenal has far more secrets in the land grant than in the industrial park, and Neil's status as "brother-in-law" was far from where Emperor Gao was staring at him and Nina that day. Can you feel at ease?

"Summer is coming soon. I'm going to the Great Wall. Is it freezing or escaping the heat?" Iger ignored the person who offered advice, but turned to Nina, who stood silently aside. Besides, does anyone else know?"

"No, after I discovered the situation, I dragged him straight to here without any delay."

That's good, although my brother is unreliable, my sister is always sensible and shrewd.

As an extremely human minister, you should hold on to the things you can handle.It is the right choice to share the worries of the monarch without showing any handles and weaknesses to outsiders.

"Thank you very much, sister, she saved your life!" Iger breathed a sigh of relief, turned his head and glared at Neil again, curled his lips to the side, "Stay aside, I'll think about what to do with you later."

People will eventually live in a way that they hate. After thinking about it, he chose the path that the villains in the eyes of the public would take-deception.

Suppressing this matter is the result of weighing the pros and cons, but it does not mean that he decided to spare Neil with impunity.Nina thinks that the leaker is her brother, but this is not necessarily the whole truth. Even if it is, how much information this kid has leaked needs further investigation... He has a long memory, and sooner or later these half-bad relatives will bring him more trouble.